¹ And the whole earth had one language, and the same words.

² And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there.

³ And they said one to another, Come on, let us make bricks, and burn [them] thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

⁴ And they said, Come on, let us build ourselves a city and a tower, the top of which [may reach] to the heavens; and let us make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

⁵ And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men built.

⁶ And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and have all one language; and this have they begun to do. And now will they be hindered in nothing that they meditate doing.

⁷ Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

⁸ And Jehovah scattered them thence over the face of the whole earth. And they left off building the city.

⁹ Therefore was its name called Babel; because Jehovah there confounded the language of the whole earth. And Jehovah scattered them thence over the face of the whole earth.

¹⁰ These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.

¹¹ And Shem lived after he had begotten Arphaxad five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹² And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Shelah.

¹³ And Arphaxad lived after he had begotten Shelah four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁴ And Shelah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.

¹⁵ And Shelah lived after he had begotten Eber four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁶ And Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.

¹⁷ And Eber lived after he had begotten Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁸ And Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

¹⁹ And Peleg lived after he had begotten Reu two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁰ And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug.

²¹ And Reu lived after he had begotten Serug two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

²² And Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.

²³ And Serug lived after he had begotten Nahor two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁴ And Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah.

²⁵ And Nahor lived after he had begotten Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁶ And Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ And these are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot.

²⁸ And Haran died before the face of his father Terah in the land of his nativity at Ur of the Chaldeans.

²⁹ And Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, a daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

³⁰ And Sarai was barren: she had no child.

³¹ And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth together out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go into the land of Canaan, and came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

³² And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.